Puerto Rican propane buyers have purchased nearly a quarter of their annual propane demand from the US via Jones Act waiver shipments since mid-March, as major gas buyers there call for a permanent exemption.
Since the start of US president Donald Trump's waiving of Jones Act requirements for US-US shipments on 18 March, five foreign-flagged vessels have carried 809,000 bl of propane in total from the US mainland to Puerto Rico, according to US Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD) data.
This volume represents 24pc of the US territory's annual demand of around 3.33mn bl, according to Empire Gas chief executive Ramon Gonzalez.
This marks a significant increase in US flows possible under the waiver compared to 2025, when zero shipments of US-loading propane made its way to the island. That year, the majority of shipments came from the Dominican Republic, Vortexa data show.
Propane importers on Puerto Rico are calling for a permanent Jones Act exemption, arguing that supply security is of high concern given the island's vulnerability to regular hurricanes.
There were 92 Jones Act eligible-vessels — meaning US owned, built and crewed by Americans — in operation in March 2026, but these were primarily tankers, with no LPG carriers represented, according to MARAD data. That means importers would not be able to import US propane even if they wanted to engage in the Jones Act market.
"I believe a permanent exemption isn't simply something we'd like to have, it's something Puerto Rico genuinely needs," said Gonzalez, noting that propane was the most widely used fuel on the island for "everything from barbecues to power generation".
The nearby US territory of the US Virgin Islands has been exempt from the Jones Act since it was passed in the 1920s.
A permanent waiver would give "access to other markets and more supply security", according to LPG distributor Tropigas' vice president Luis Humberto Berrios. "We would love to see it."
The US government renewed the temporary waiver for another 90 days on 10 August extending the access of propane for the island in the near term.
